Nintendo should release their back catalogue on iOS

[Nautilus]

Barkley said:

1. I assume when you say Xbox Live already did it on 360, you actually meant to say PS+ did it on ps3 with regards to a subscription service that didn't have online play locked behind a paywall. PS+ was at about 4 million subscribers back in the day when it was nothing but free games (and much better free games then we're getting now) But with the online being behind a paywall that number is up to 21 million subscribers, with the launch of the ps4 (and the start of locking online multiplayer behind a paywall) subscriptions to PS+ SHOT up. I don't agree that you could make a subscription service on PC for example that would be as profitable or successful as PS+ or Xbox Live.

2. Absolutely, Nintendo's main profit currently is by far first party software. That's exactly why they shouldn't be limiting their consumer base.

3. Yes and that's exactly what I would argue, take Mario Kart 8 for example, absolutely phenomenal game. The predecessor sold over 36 million, yet Mario Kart 8 sold only over 7.5 million so far. (I'd post vgchartz numbers but I can't get the site to load.) Mario Kart 8 has been SEVERELY hindered by the very small installbase of the WiiU. If this game was released on ps4/xbo and PC as well I have no doubt it would have sold at the very least 20 million copies. Regardless of the cut they have to give to Sony, Microsoft and Steam it would have made them at least twice as much as it made on the WiiU. As for Mobile Nintendo could very easily create it's own store on android and get 100% of the profits.

4. As Nintendo would be publishing their own games they would have full control over their titles. They would lose no control.

5. With their hardware currently being a fraction of the power of the competition it's irrelevant that they wouldn't be able to squeeze as much power out of the machines. But the difference between what third party's and first party's can get out of a machine isn't that drastic, the greatest looking games on a machine sometimes come from third party's.

6. They make high risk choices because they think it has a chance of being very rewarding in terms of profits. They are definitely as interested in profits as any other company, (amiibo).

 

Nintendo make the majority of their money from first party software, so why hold it back. They should focus on continuing to develop phenomenal software and not waste resources on developing risky hardware that the software is reliant on selling so it actually has potential customers. If Nintendo's hardware doesn't sell, it's games don't sell. The entire business is reliant on hardware selling, these last few years would have been far far better for Nintendo if they were third party.

The WiiU has some fantastic games that could have sold several times more units if they weren't restricted to Nintendo's platform.

1. Yes thank you.I meant PS+.And while yes, the number from PS3 to PS4 of subscribers has skyrockets because of online play(which is anti costumer to make in my opinion), imagine if you had a subscription for PC like it was on PS3.If the PS3 managed to have 4 million with an installed base of 80 millions, imagine an installed base of 1 billion+ PCs.I dont see how it isnt possible assuming they do things right.

2.To be quite honest, you could apply that logic to every company.Sony, Microsoft and even PC exclusives titles are always limiting themselves when they make exclusive titles to a paltform.Im sure that Halo would sell double if it was available for Sony, Nintendo and PC(Who would imagine this one is actually possible to happen on PC).The same can be said for Uncharted or God Of War.In the ideal world, we would have only one machine.But as we all know, that aint happening.So I find quite silly using this argument.

3.Yet Mario Kart 8 managed to have a 60% attach rate give or take, in a failing system.The only thing holding it back is the comercial failure of this system.And as you pointed out, Mario Kart Wii sold 36 millions.Mario Kart 7 sold more than 12 millions(vgchartz is not loading pages at the moment, so cant check the number).Mario Kart on the DS sold around 24 millions.But saying that Nintendo should develop their first party games to other platforms just because of one bad generation is silly at the very least.I mean, while the PS3 was commercially successful, it was a financial catasthrophe.If you were to aplly your logic and just go third party because of one bad generation that cost the company money, Sony wouldnt have now a absurdely commercial and financial success with the PS4.If Nintendo was in the edge of going bankrupt, or at least losing money to the point that it would threaten their bussiness, I would agree with you.As things stand now, Nintendo is profitable.And it will make even more with its mini games on mobile.So I wouldnt worry about Nintendo having their bussiness shut down for the next 5 years, and thats being pessimistic.

4.Thats not completely true.While they would release their games when they want, and all those things, they wouldnt have control over console lifespan or revisions.And thats especially bad in this generations with their PS NEOs and Scorpios.I mean, having to develop to a different machine, to adapt to the extra power or OS, in case that happens, would not only raise the cost of the development, but also the time to develop, which could be used to make other games.But if Nintendo made their own hardware, that wouldnt happen, because well, they call the shots.Even if they wanted to make that, they would be well aware of it and take precautions.It may seem like a minor thing, but its still that goes against third party companies

5.And thats again not true.I mean, just look at Uncharted 4 for as the example.Its probably the most gorgeus game we have, that also has an excellent gameplay.And Naughty Dog went on to say that they could have done better, and will implement what they learned in the next game and make it even prettier.That just happens because they have inside knowledge of the PS4, probably because they were more time with the machine than the others, and since they know how the machine and its coding works, they can implement more tricks to make the games better.(Plus Naughty Dog has a brilliant employers.Damn those guys are talented).The same can be said about Nintendo games.While the power difference is noticiable, they make wonders with the Wii U for example.Imagine if the NX had better specs?And before you say that Nintendo dosent go for power, the Gamecube and Nintendo 64 were extremely powerful when they released, more so than Sony consoles.

6.Never said that they werent interested in profit.I just said that they had a bigger priority of making better games than most companies.I mean, they dont release broken games, that need gigantic patches after, and their games are polished to the last polygon(general rule.Of course there is one bad game here and there, but in general they are at leats very good).Thats what I meant.

Every single companie has more potential, and thus make more money, if they made their titles more acessible.While thats especially true for Nintendo, since their IPs have no equal, it dosent mean that it wouldnt also be true for other companies.Yet, Sony is making a killing this gen,and even its first party games are selling extremely well(with of course some exceptions) and Nintendo was the one doing the killing last gen.So I always thought this argument of Nintendo going third party just to make a few extra bucks(which in my opinion has no advantage in the long term) very weak.They just had a bad generation in which they did bad decisions.Thats all.